Eye contact of Japanese people

Abstract

Eyes are very important in communication and they are more vital when it comes to foreign language communication. Japanese language is considered to be a high context language, meaning that a major part of the communication depends on the context, not words. So eye contact plays a significant role in Japanese language communication. But compared to Europeans and Americans, it is said that Japanese people are not very good at maintaining eye contact in their communication. So this paper focuses on why Japanese people are not very good at maintaining the eye contact, although Japanese is considered to be a high context language. For this study a group of native Japanese speakers and non-native speakers (41) in Tokyo University of Foreign Studies were selected. They were given a questionnaire to be filled and data was analysed. The findings highlight that most of the native Japanese speakers are good at maintaining eye contact in their daily communication although most of the non-native speakers are of the opinion that the Japanese people are not very good at keeping eye contact. It also highlights that factors like modesty, tradition, social class, up and down relationships in Japanese society, influence of Asian culture and unique etiquettes of Japan also make them avo id the eye contact in their communication.